Indoor units of air conditioners having an air filter at an air inlet have been known. In an indoor unit of this type, an air blowing fan and a drive motor are arranged substantially in the center of a casing, a heat exchanger is arranged outside the air blowing fan, a front panel having a suction grille is arranged on the front side of the casing, and an air guider is arranged between the front panel and the air blowing fan.
Room air is sucked through the suction grille by the air blowing fan, and is supplied to the heat exchanger through the air guider. Then, the air that exchanged heat in the heat exchanger is blown out through outlets formed in the front panel outside the suction grille.
An air filter for preventing dust contained in the sucked air from entering the casing is detachably attached to the front panel inside the suction grille. Therefore, a user has to regularly remove the dust adhered to the air filter.
For example, Patent Document 1 describes an indoor unit of an air conditioner having an air filter at an air inlet. The indoor unit includes a dust removing section for sucking the dust trapped on the air filter with a suction nozzle while rotating the air filter, and a dust collecting device for containing the dust removed by the dust removing section. With this configuration, the dust trapped on the air filter can be removed, and the removed dust can be collected in the dust collecting device without requiring user intervention.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-83612